This year has had more than its fair share of disappointments, hasn’t it? There were so many events cancelled, routines disrupted, long-awaited plans delayed, & broken dreams for us to have to face.
In short, 2020 blows. It’s an agonizingly painful, crippling trainwreck of a year.
An Amazon commercial is going viral for giving us all.the.feels with their beautiful yet heartbreaking reminder of the struggle that is 2020.
Grab your tissues, peeps, because this one is likely to cue the waterworks.
The commercial’s title is “The Show Must Go On”, and it opens with a young ballerina that has just earned a highly-coveted role of prima ballerina in the company’s next show.
(For those not familiar with the dance world, it means she’s the star. The Big Kahuna. #1.In short, the young woman is about to live out the very thing she has dreaming of & working towards for years.)
She is obviously elated, & shares the good news with her equally thrilled parents.
But like so many of us across the world, along comes March 2020 to shatter our young ballerina’s dream.
Instead of rehearsing with her fellow dancers in preparation for the biggest moment of her young life, the ballerina is confined to home. Social distancing is in full effect; the world seems instantly shuttered.
Dance rehearsals are cancelled until further notice, & of course, the dancer is devastated.
The dancer holds out a bit of hope; she continues to diligently practice her routine in her building’s stairwells, & keeps her ballet shoes moving while waiting for her golden moment to be rescheduled.
But for some events, there is no rescheduling. 2020 took many of those moments away permanently.
We’ve ALL been here. It might have been a senior prom dress languishing unworn in a closet, because prom was cancelled. It’s an eagerly-anticipated baseball season cancelled.
A wedding needing to be rescheduled… and then rescheduled AGAIN, because the pandemic isn’t going anywhere.
It’s going weeks -sometimes months- without your parent meeting their newborn grandchild. It’s no more school, no more parties, no more gatherings with friends.
2020 dashed countless plans, hopes & dreams, and we’re all feeling the genuine pain & grief of it.
The ballerina’s little sister hatches a plan: she pens some homemade invitations and distributes them to fellow building residents (Sister of The Year right here!):
(In the flurry of preparation for the makeshift show, Amazon cleverly inserts a moment when a neighbor purchases a flashlight -“set lighting”- from their website. Well played, Amazon. Well played.)
The dancer suits up in her full costume and begins her performance on the street outside of her building:
It’s not how she envisioned her moment of triumph. It’s not what was supposed to happen, but not much about 2020 has been what is could have been, or should have been.
But she makes the most of this moment regardless, and kicks some serious ballet ASS.
Her neighbor then narrows his trusty Amazon-purchased flashlight beam onto the dancer to provide her with a golden spotlight:
And even though we know this is an obvious advertising ploy, we don’t care because it was so damn thoughtful of this guy to think of giving her moment in the spotlight a LITERAL spotlight, so take all my money, Amazon!
Cue the tears here, because as the neighbors applaud from their balconies you realize that her passionate performance is a determined “screw you, Corona!” moment. While the pandemic stole her chance of starring on a hallowed theater stage, it didn’t steal her passion & talent- both are on full display.
The clip concludes with the dancer’s defiantly raised jaw, a soft snowfall, and these poignant words:
The clip is only 1:59 minutes long, but it feels like a deep, meaningful journey.
Amazon’s commercial already has over 400K views in a little over one week, because the ballerina’s journey through pain, disappointment, and ultimately determination that “the show must go on” is EVERYONE’S 2020.
We’ve all experienced our own losses, disappointments, set-backs, & discouragement due to the pandemic. We’ve been overwhelmed, over-worked, and over-tired. We’ve all experienced the same mixture of emotions: anger, fear, disgust, loneliness, and discouragement.
But… the show must go on, & we’re all doing our own dance to keep things together. We’re all doing our part to make the best of a very awful situation, & to celebrate the sweet moments as best we can.
Thanks, Amazon, for this meaningful commercial (and for your service; never did home delivery mean as much as it has in 2020!).
Here’s the link to the full video below: